Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Eden's Zero Chapter 2 Review - The Girl and the Blue Cat

Written by Shiggins

Now we're getting good!

After last week's opening chapter, which I admitted had a few flaws like many other beginnings in fiction, it was up to Chapter 2 to decide if Eden's Zero was able to live up to the Mashima-senpai name or if it would be a slog to get through and not worth my time. Thankfully, it looks like we have a winner!

Gold star for this design, Mashima-senpai!

Eden's Zero literally begins with a colossally sized woman in space, mysterious yet sexy in a way only Hiro Mashima can draw, pondering about the boy Shiki and if his journey will be a fruitful endeavour. And now we go to Shiki, who is currently discovering Not-YouTube, which is a bunch of holographic squares called B-Cube that display the videos, including Rebecca's own Aoneko Channel. (Aoneko = Blue Cat)

Rebecca tells Shiki that she is planning to register him as an adventurer, so he can travel from star to star. So in a way, think of it like the Hunter Licence from Hunter x Hunter. This is when the trio arrive at Blue Garden, Rebecca's home planet. Shiki is overwhelmed by the amount of people and the huge buildings, but is still excited.

I think Shiki just discovered puberty.

Suddenly, this chapter's Bad Guy captures Happy, recognising him as an "Exxid" which is not an "Exceed" because it has a different spelling. Bad Guy runs off with Happy, planning to sell him, and Shiki chases after in a rage. As the two race off, Rebecca begins her flashback of when she found Happy as a lonely kid.

Shiki keeps racing after Bad Guy, using his gravity powers, but also makes sure to spend time gawking at all the different civilians around him. Shiki finally catches up to Bad Guy and tosses him down, but hasn't gotten Happy from him yet. Back to Rebecca, the flashback continues as she names him Happy.

And just like that, I now NEED this series to have an anime.

Present day again, and Bad Guy's Boss has appeared. Bad Boss is excited at selling Happy, but Rebecca finally shows up to demand him back. The flashback continues, with Happy and Rebecca sharing good times together, and Shiki prepares his Ether Gear to fight Bad Boss. Bad Boss fights back with a massive railgun, causing Happy's prison to shatter and he races towards Rebecca.

In the most surprising of flashbacks, we see Happy actually was killed in a car accident. And how is he here in the present? Why, he's a robot! A robot that can transform into two guns for Rebecca to use in combat, and someone better cast me in a remake of The Notebook because I just fell in love.

Wow. I almost liked Happy for a second there.

The battle continues and the pair work together until Bad Boss and the Bad Guys are all defeated. As they walk, the flashback has one last moment where a young Rebecca sees Robo-Happy for the first time but accepts that he is still Happy. And finally, Shiki is taken to the Adventurer's Guild, Meteor Torch.

Our chapter ends with a guard racing to a princess to report that Shiki has left Granbell and gone to Blue Garden, causing the princess to rise out of her chair and reveal she is the space pirate Elcy Crimson.... Wait, that's fucking Erza!

Opinion: Shut up, that's Erza!

The fact that Happy is here is one thing, because he mostly exists as a mascot and comic relief, but "Elcy Crimson" is clearly "Erza Scarlet". Her name is almost exactly the same, to the point they both have a last name being a shade of red. Instead of a fake eye, she has an eyepatch. She's wielding a sword. She's wearing armour. And I'm pretty sure that's Jellal's coat. That is Erza!

Why am I grumpy right now? BECAUSE SHE'S ERZA!

In all honesty, I am convinced that Eden's Zero is somehow related to Fairy Tail at this point. I don't know if it's another dimension, like Edolas was, or if this is secretly a sequel like M. Night Shyamalan's Split, but there is no way Happy and Erza can exist in this universe without there being a connection! LOOK AT HER! Hiro Mashima can't be that lazy, can he?!

In other news, anyone else in love with Rebecca's nutjob demeanour or is it just me? In a stark contrast to Lucy's honest and determined demeanour, Rebecca looks insane! I kept thinking she would give a speech about Happy and Shiki, or she'd bring out her big puppy eyes, but instead she grins like a sadist and blasts the hell out of them! Rebecca is insane! More of that, please!

*doki-doki*

Once again, the biggest surprise of this chapter was surprisingly dark, as we learned that Happy died! I finally got to see Happy die! And even better, he's a robot now! I love robots! Robots that can transform! Eden's Zero isn't afraid to defy expectations and take the disturbing route, and I feel like applauding that move. It's only been two chapters, but I feel like Eden's Zero is definitely not playing around.

Last chapter, I criticised the art. This time however, I am going to praise it. As I saw Blue Garden, I realised that this is where Hiro Mashima can shine the most; Designs of worlds! If Hiro Mashima wants to make this series a big hit, I'd recommend he keep up the creativity and make other worlds as memorable and fun to admire as Blue Garden.

And of course, giant sexy alien (possibly a robot?) lady.

Manga Rating: 4/5

Character of the Week: Rebecca for her insanity.

Best Part: Rebecca, why you so cray-cray?

Worst Part: Erza "Crimson".

Ha. Passing the torch. I get it.

Shiggins:[Admin].

Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,.You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/